Celeste Anderson's comments
Half a score and two years ago, our founders brought forth upon this region a new network dedicated to the proposition that all hub sites are created equal.
But seriously.....
In early 1988, as Danny Cohen remembers it, he talked to Mark Pullen, the then ARPAnet project manager, and convinced him that instead of paying $70,000-$80,000 per month to support each of the 7-8 IMPs that ARPA was running in the Los Angeles area (3 of which were at ISI), ARPA could pay to connect up one IMP and the rest would be interconnected via T1 lines for a mere $1 million in startup costs. He took him a few minutes to decide he liked the idea.
Danny and Jon Postel then called other local IMP contractors and got positive responses about joining the as yet un-named network. There was a founding meeting to discuss the logistics, topology and the like.
Danny had suggested two names for the network: Los Nettos and LA-Nette. Jon preferred Los Nettos since the Spanish sound to the name sounded more like a network for Los Angeles. Before the name was put into use, Danny and Jon made sure that it was not a "real" word in Spanish and they were assured that there is no double "t" in Spanish.
Strangely enough, when I was in the process of trademarking the Los Nettos name, I was asked if the name meant anything. I could honestly say no. We had created a name that meant nothing in another language.
The commitments for creating the network were made in June of 1988 and the first four sites were operational in November 1988. Those sites were Caltech, ISI, USC, UCLA. In 1989, the remaining sites were connected up: IBM Research, JPL, NOSC, RAND, TIS, TRW, UNISYS.
Tonight we have some of those founding members with us and would like them to accept a small token of our appreciation with these lovely "Los Nettos Founder" marble plaques.
- I will accept for Jon Postel in memorium (ISI)
- Danny Cohen (ISI)
- Richard Kaplan (USC)
- Paul Messina (Caltech)
- Ron Broesma (NOSC)
- Bob Felderman accepting for Chuck Seitz (Caltech)
- Joe Wieclawek for Don Gallop (JPL)
- Eric Nilson accepting for Jon Hertzog (RAND)
Other founders who could not be here tonight with us:
- George Bekey, USC
- Steve Crocker, TIS
- Leonard Kleinrock, UCLA
I also have another recognition to give and that is the "Los Nettos Founding Network Engineer" to Walter W. Prue III. I believe he has prepared some comments about his memories of the beginning of Los Nettos.